Fulk I of Jerusalem (c1090-1143)
|remains=Church Of Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem, Israel }} * Fulk I, King of Jerusalem (1131-1143) * Fulk V, Count of Anjou (1109-1129) * Fulk, Count of Maine (thru marriage) * Member - Knights Templar Biography Fulk (Latin: Fulco, French: Foulque or Foulques), also known as Fulk the Younger, was the Count of Anjou (as Fulk V) from 1109 to 1129 and the King of Jerusalem from 1131 to his death. During his reign, the Kingdom of Jerusalem reached its largest territorial extent. Crusader Knight Fulk went on crusade in 1119 or 1120, and became attached to the Knights Templar (Orderic Vitalis). (That is midway between 1st and 2nd Crusade.) He returned, late in 1121, after which he began to subsidize the Templars, maintaining two knights in the Holy Land for a year. Count of Anjou Fulk was born at Angers, between 1089 and 1092, the son of Count Fulk IV of Anjou and Bertrade de Montfort. In 1092, Bertrade deserted her husband and bigamously married King Philip I of France. He became count of Anjou upon his father's death in 1109. In the next year, he married Ermengarde of Maine, cementing Angevin control over the County of Maine. Crown of Jerusalem By 1127 Fulk was preparing to return to Anjou when he received an embassy from King Baldwin II of Jerusalem. Baldwin II had no male heirs but had already designated his daughter Melisende to succeed him. Baldwin II wanted to safeguard his daughter's inheritance by marrying her to a powerful lord. Fulk was a wealthy crusader and experienced military commander, and a widower. His experience in the field would prove invaluable in a frontier state always in the grip of war. However, Fulk held out for better terms than mere consort of the Queen; he wanted to be king alongside Melisende. Baldwin II, reflecting on Fulk's fortune and military exploits, acquiesced. Fulk abdicated his county seat of Anjou to his son Geoffrey and left for Jerusalem, where he married Melisende on 2 June 1129. Later Baldwin II bolstered Melisende's position in the kingdom by making her sole guardian of her son by Fulk, Baldwin III, born in 1130. Fulk and Melisende became joint rulers of Jerusalem in 1131 with Baldwin II's death. From the start Fulk assumed sole control of the government, excluding Melisende altogether. He favored fellow countrymen from Anjou to the native nobility. The other crusader states to the north feared that Fulk would attempt to impose the suzerainty of Jerusalem over them, as Baldwin II had done; but as Fulk was far less powerful than his deceased father-in-law, the northern states rejected his authority. Melisende's sister Alice of Antioch, exiled from the Principality by Baldwin II, took control of Antioch once more after the death of her father. She allied with Pons of Tripoli and Joscelin II of Edessa to prevent Fulk from marching north in 1132; Fulk and Pons fought a brief battle before peace was made and Alice was exiled again. In Jerusalem as well, Fulk was resented by the second generation of Jerusalem Christians who had grown up there since the First Crusade. These "natives" focused on Melisende's cousin, the popular Hugh II of Le Puiset, count of Jaffa, who was devotedly loyal to the Queen. Fulk saw Hugh as a rival, and it did not help matters when Hugh's own stepson accused him of disloyalty. In 1134, in order to expose Hugh, Fulk accused him of infidelity with Melisende. Hugh rebelled in protest. Hugh secured himself to Jaffa, and allied himself with the Muslims of Ascalon. He was able to defeat the army set against him by Fulk, but this situation could not hold. The Patriarch interceded in the conflict, perhaps at the behest of Melisende. Fulk agreed to peace and Hugh was exiled from the kingdom for three years, a lenient sentence. However, an assassination attempt was made against Hugh. Fulk, or his supporters, were commonly believed responsible, though direct proof never surfaced. The scandal was all that was needed for the queen's party to take over the government in what amounted to a palace coup. Author and historian Bernard Hamilton wrote that Fulk's supporters "went in terror of their lives" in the palace. Contemporary author and historian William of Tyre wrote of Fulk "he never attempted to take the initiative, even in trivial matters, without (Melisende's) consent". The result was that Melisende held direct and unquestioned control over the government from 1136 onwards. Sometime before 1136 Fulk reconciled with his wife, and a second son, Amalric was born. Death In 1143, while the king and queen were in Acre, Fulk was killed in a hunting accident. His horse stumbled, fell, and Fulk's skull was crushed by the saddle, "and his brains gushed forth from both ears and nostrils", as William of Tyre describes. He was carried back to Acre, where he lay unconscious for three days before he died. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Though their marriage started in conflict, Melisende mourned for him privately as well as publicly. Fulk was survived by his son Geoffrey of Anjou by his first wife, and Baldwin III and Amalric I by Melisende. Marriage and Children 1st Marriage: Ermengarde of Maine Married: Ermengarde of Maine (-1126). Fulk V was originally an opponent of King Henry I of England and a supporter of King Louis VI of France, but in 1118 or 1119 he had allied with Henry when he arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Henry's son and heir, William Adelin. Much later, Henry arranged for his daughter Matilda to marry Fulk's son Geoffrey of Anjou, which she did in 1127 or 1128. # Matilda of Anjou (1111-1154) - married (at age 8) to William Andelin to form treaty alliance with England. But he died early in the White Ship Disaster leaving no children and creating a major succession crisis for the English crown. She became a nun and later Abbess of Fontevrault. # Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou and Maine (1113-1151) AKA: Geoffrey Plantagenet - namesake of the English royal family: House of Plantagenet. He was the Count of Anjou, Touraine, and Maine by inheritance from 1129 and then Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144. His ancestral domain of Anjou gave rise to the name Angevin for three kings of England and what became known as the Angevin Empire in the 12th century. He married to Matilda of Normandy and their son would rule England as Henry II of England (1133-1189). # Hélie II du Maine (c1114-1151) AKA: Elias of Maine - younger son. Elias rebelled in 1145 with the support of Lord Robert III of Sablé, sparking a conflict known in Angevin historiography as the "war of the barons" (guerra baronum). This war may have dragged on into 1146, but in the end Elias was captured and imprisoned by his brother. # Sibylla of Anjou (1116-1165) - married in 1123 William Clito (div. 1124), married in 1134 Thierry, Count of Flanders. She was the regent of Flanders in 1147-1149. In 1157 she travelled with Thierry on his third pilgrimage, but after arriving in Jerusalem she separated from her husband and refused to return home with him. She became a nun at the Convent of Sts. Mary and Martha in Bethany. 2nd Marrigae: Melisende of Jerusalem Married: Mélisende of Jerusalem (1105-1161) in 2 June 1129 in political marriage made by her father to secure succession to the crusader King of Jerusalem (see above). Queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1153, and regent for her son between 1153 and 1161 while he was on campaign. She was the eldest daughter of King Baldwin II of Jerusalem, and the Armenian princess Morphia of Melitene. # Baldwin III of Jerusalem (1131-1163) - King of Jerusalem from 1143 to 1163. He was the eldest son of Melisende and Fulk of Jerusalem. He became king while still a child, and was at first overshadowed by his mother Melisende, whom he eventually defeated in a civil war. During his reign Jerusalem became more closely allied with the Byzantine Empire, and the Second Crusade tried and failed to conquer Damascus. Baldwin captured the important Egyptian fortress of Ascalon, but also had to deal with the increasing power of Nur ad-Din in Syria. He died childless and was succeeded by his brother Amalric. # Amalric I of Jerusalem (1136-1174) - King of Jerusalem from 1163, and Count of Jaffa and Ascalon before his accession. He was the second son of Melisende and Fulk of Jerusalem, and succeeded his older brother Baldwin III. During his reign, Jerusalem became more closely allied with the Byzantine Empire, and the two states launched an unsuccessful invasion of Egypt. Meanwhile, the Muslim territories surrounding Jerusalem began to be united under Nur ad-Din and later Saladin. He was the father of three future rulers of Jerusalem, Sibylla, Baldwin IV, and Isabella I. Category:Famous people 1131 Category:Counts of Maine Category:Roman Catholic monarchs Category:Kings of Jerusalem Category:Jure uxoris kings Category:Counts of Anjou Category:Deaths by horse-riding accident Category:People from Angers Category:Burials at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre